BJEP Monograph Series II: Part 12 The Role of Competence and Beliefs in Teaching and Learning

The role of competence beliefs in teaching and learning

Edited by David William Putwain and Katy Smart

Competence beliefs are central to learning, motivation and achievement. Students who believe that they have the necessary abilities, skills, expertise, and character are more motivated and achieve more than their counterparts without such beliefs. Accordingly, researchers and practitioners have sought to understand how competence beliefs are formed, how they can be measured, how they function, how they relate to other constructs and how they can be enhanced. A substantial body of empirical work now exists to document the importance of competence beliefs. The papers included in this monograph, arising from the conference jointly hosted by the British Psychological Society, Psychology of Education Section, and the British Journal of Educational Psychology, take stock of the field, review important findings, and consider new directions that research into competence beliefs has taken. Topics addressed include reading motivation, emotional competence, teacher competencies, intrapersonal approaches, person-centred approaches and adaptive learning. This monograph offers detailed and thoughtful considerations of the methodological, conceptual and empirical challenges facing researchers as they strive to further develop understanding in this field.